<p>I'm definitely interested in majoring in psychology and hope to go to grad school after to continue pursuing it, I'm not even sure if this is necessarily true or not, but I've heard from some people that if a college also offers neuroscience as a major then their psychology programs are better because they're taken more seriously and the schools have better resources. Do you think this is untrue and unfair to schools that do not offer a neuroscience major or is there some truth to this?</p>
<p>That is not true.
There are many subfields of psychology that are not focused on neuroscience aspects of the discipline.
It would only be a possible advantage if a student primarily had an interest in pursuing neuroscience as a focus of his/her undergraduate or graduate work. </p>
<p>Neuroscience programs also come in several varieties: standalone departmental majors, interdisciplinary majors, subspecialty tracks in various bioscience departments, and subspecialty tracks in psychology departments. In addition to major programs, schools often offer minors or certificate programs. Other options for neuroscience might include joint psychology + speech & hearing science majors and cognitive science majors, which offer a component in neuroscience. Whatever the program structure, the important aspects are faculty members with active research interests in neuroscience, research opportunities, and appropriate lab equipment. Even when a school does not offer a neuroscience major, it is quite possible for a student to obtain solid preparation for further study of neuroscience by electing relevant coursework in biology, psychology, and supporting sciences.</p>
<p>I don’t think offering a neuroscience major is, itself, the key factor but rather the number of course offerings and faculty focused on biopsychology/neuropsychology/physiological psychology. This is the wave of the future IMO. I was taught that psychology comes from neurobiology. You would be better prepared for grad school with a good foundation in neurobiology and statistics. On the other hand, some of the most interesting psychological phenomena can’t yet be studied at a biological level.</p>